My Summary of Personal Learning, A Learning Experience

For the past week, I have been debating what I would do for my final summary of personal learning in the course of ECMP355. I saw that many students decided to list the medias and programs they used or discovered during the semester, and described them, while other chose to do a screen cast type of project. I thought I would be original and draw a concept map, but it did not really touch everything I learnt this semester and I was a little nervous that I barely used any technology for my summary of personal learning. So I went on the hunt to find a program with which I could build beautiful concept maps and I fell upon iMindMap 7. I found the presentation video beautiful and I wanted to give it a try (they offer a FREE 7 day trial). I was a little discouraged at first because I did not know how to work the program and there was not too many tutorial videos for the iMindMap 7, but I was able to find one for iMindMap 6, which is basically the same as the new version, minus a few features. With this program, I was able to make a very appealing concept map and it gave me the option to turn it into a presentation. In presentation mode, you can delete the slides you do not want, you can move slides from left to right to change the order, and you can even switch from 2D to 3D! I had a lot of fun with it and I am considering buying the program as it is a nice presentation tool that is different from Prezi and PowerPoint.

My Original Concept Map Idea

My Final Concept Map

Since I have been using QuickTime to record my screen for different purposes this semester, I thought I would give Camtasia or Screenr a try, but it did not work so well. Every time it would tell me that I needed a Java plug-in and that it would not work with Google Chrome. So I downloaded the plug-in and tried it with my Safari browser without any success, I then opted for QuickTime. I also noticed that with Screenr I could only record for 5 minutes and I do not think it would have been enough time to cover everything I wanted to say (it took me a good 10 minutes).

I made a few mistakes during my presentation, but nobody is perfect. I would like to specify that Coursera does not only offer education classes, but rather a wide variety of classes, from English to Science. I noticed that I say “sweet” and “cool” a lot, nervous habit that I need to work on. I also froze when it came to the financial…. MEANS or just the money in general that some schools do not possess to go on constructive field trips. Overall I had a great semester and I have learnt things in ECMP355 that will follow me for the rest of my life, including a personal learning network!

That sounds like a pretty aggressive term. It sounds like you learned a great deal, including not everything working the ways that it might. All of these things will point to the reality of technology in the classroom. We deal with it and then move on!

I am glad that our paths crossed virtually. It’s been a hoot to see your posts and how open you’ve been with that. Keep it up and you’ll be very successful as a progressive educator. All the best…

Thank you Doug, I couldn’t of accomplished without the help of you as well as many other educators with who I connected online with. I am also glad that you are now part of my PLN and will keep on reading your interesting posts.
Thank you for all the support!

I really enjoyed the way that you presented your information. I know that I was initially scared that I wouldn’t have enough for my summary of learning project….aaaaaaand then it turned into a 16 minute video, haha! But in all seriousness, I’ll have to take a look at the applications you used to make concept maps. It looks quite a bit cleaner than Popplet!

Thank you Steph,
And yes, I really enjoyed working with iMindMap, it’s a great program and they have so many options! After my 7 days free trial they ended up giving me an extra couple of days for free too, but I will definitely buy this program if I need to do concept map or nice, clean looking presentations again!